–еферат: The main variants of the English language

General
Characteristics of the English Language in Different Parts of the
English-Speaking World

Lexical Differences
of Territorial Variants

Some Points of
History of the Territorial Variants and Lexical interchange between them

Local Variants
in the British Isles and in the USA

The
Relationship between the English National language and British Local Dialects

Local Dialects
in the USA

Conclusions

References

Dictionary

General Characteristics of the English Language in Different
Parts of the English-Speaking World

It is natural that the English language is not used with uniformity in
the British Isles and in Australia, in the USA and -in New Zealand, in Canada
and in India, etc. The English language also has some peculiarities in Wales,
Scotland, in other parts of the British Isles and America. Is the nature of
these varieties the same?

Modern linguistics distinguishes territorial variants of a national
language and local dialects. Variants of a language are regional varieties of a
standard literary language characterized by some minor peculiarities in the
sound system, vocabulary and by their own literary norms. Dialects are
varieties of a language used as a means of oral communication in small
localities, they are set off (more or less sharply) from other varieties by
some distinctive features of pronunciation, grammar and vocabulary.

Close inspection of the varieties mentioned above reveals that they are
essentially different in character. It is not difficult to establish that the
varieties spoken in small areas are local dialects. The status of the other
varieties is more difficult to establish.

It is over half a century already that the nature of the two main
variants of the English language, British and American (Br and AE) has been
discussed. Some American linguists, H. L. Mencken for one, spoke of two
separate languages with a steady flood of linguistic influence first (up to
about 1914) from Britain to America, and since then from America to the British
Isles. They even proclaim that the American influence on British English is so
powerful that there will come a time when the American standard will be
established in Britain. Other linguists regard the language of the USA as a
dialect of English.

Still more questionable is the position of Australian English (AuE) and
Canadian English (CnE).

The differences between the English language as spoken in Britain, the
USA, Australia and Canada are immediately noticeable in the field of phonetics.
However these distinctions are confined to the articulatory-acoustics
characteristics of some phonemes, to some differences in the use of others and
to the differences in the rhythm and intonation of speech. The few phonemes
characteristic of American pronunciation and alien to British literary norms
can as a rule be observed in British dialects.

The variations in vocabulary, to be considered below, are not very
numerous. Most of them are divergences in the semantic structure of words and
in their usage.

The dissimilarities in grammar like AE gotten, proven for BE got, proved
are scarce. For the most part these dissimilarities consist in the preference
of this or that grammatical category or form to some others. For example, the
preference of Past Indefinite to Present Perfect, the formation of the Future
Tense with will as the only auxiliary verb for all persons, and some others.
Recent investigations have also shown that the Present Continuous form in the
meaning of Future is used twice as frequently in BE as in the American,
Canadian and Australian variants; infinitive constructions are used more rarely
in AE than in BE and AuE and passive constructions are, on the contrary, more
frequent in America than in Britain and in Australia.

Since BE, AE and AuE have essentially the same grammar system, phonetic
system and vocabulary, they cannot be regarded as different languages. Nor can
they be referred to local dialects; because they serve all spheres of verbal
communication in society, within their territorial area they have dialectal
differences of their own; besides they differ far less than local dialects
(e.g. far less than the dialects of Dewsbury and Howden, two English"
towns in Yorkshire some forty miles apart). Another consideration is that AE
has its own literary norm and AuE is developing one. Thus we must speak of
three variants of the English national language having different accepted
literary standards, one spoken in the British Isles, another spoken in the USA,
the third in Australia. As to CnE, its peculiarities began to attract
linguistic attention only some 20 years ago. The fragmentary nature of the
observation available makes it impossible to determine its status.

Lexical
Differences of Territorial Variants

Speaking about the lexical distinctions between the territorial variants,
of the English language it is necessary to point out that from the point of
view of their modern currency in different parts of the English-speaking world
all lexical units may be divided into general English, those common to all the
variants and 1ocally-marked, those specific to present-day usage in one of the
variants and not found in the others (i.e. Briticisms, Americanisms,
Australianisms, Canadianisms, -etc.).

When speaking about the territorial differences of the English language
philologists and lexicographers usually note the fact that different variants
of English use different words for the same objects. Thus in describing the
lexical differences between the British and American variants they provide long
lists of word pairs like

BE

flat

underground

lorry

pavement

post

tin-opener

government

leader

AE

apartment

subway

truck

sidewalk

mail

can-opener

administration

editorial

faculty

teaching staff

From such lists one may infer that the words in the left column are the
equivalents of those given in the right column and used on the other side of the
Atlantic. But the matter is not as simple as that.

These pairs present quite different cases.

It is only in some rare cases like tin-openerЧcan-opener or
fishmongerЧfish-dealer that the members of such pairs are semantically
equivalent.

In pairs like governmentЧadministration, leaderЧeditorial only one
lexical semantic variant of one of the members is locally-marked. Thus in the
first pair the lexical semantic variant of administrationЧ'the executive
officials of a government' is an Americanism, in the second pair the word
leader in the meaning of 'leading article in a newspaper' is a Briticism.

In some cases a notion may have two synonymous designations used on both
sides of the Atlantic ocean, but one of them is more frequent in Britain, the
otherЧin the USA. Thus in the pairs postЧmail, timetableЧschedule,
noticeЧbulletin the first word is more frequent in Britain, the secondЧin
America. So the difference here lies only in word-frequency.

Most locally-marked lexical units belong to partial Briticisms, Americanisms,
etc., that is they are typical of this or that variant only in one or some of
their meanings. Within the semantic structure of such words one may often find
meanings belonging to general English, Americanisms and Briticisms, e.g., in
the word pavement, the meaning 'street or road covered with stone, asphalt,
concrete, etc is an Americanism, the meaning 'paved path for pedestrians at the
side of the road' is a Briticism (the corresponding American expression is
sidewalk), the other two meanings 'the covering of the floor made of flat
blocks of wood, stone, etc.' and 'soil' (geol.) are general English. Very often
the meanings that belong to general English are common and neutral, central,
direct, while the Americanisms are colloquial, marginal and figurative, e.g.
shoulderЧgeneral EnglishЧ'the joint connecting the arm or forelimb with the
body', AmericanismЧ'either edge of a road or highway'.

There are also some full Briticisms, Americanisms. For example, the words
fortnight, pillar-box are full Briticisms, campus, mailboy are full
Americanisms, outback, backblocks are full Australianisms.

These may be subdivided into lexical units denoting some realia that have
no counterparts elsewhere (such as the Americanism junior high school) and
those denoting phenomena observable in other English-speaking countries but
expressed there in a different way (e.g. campus is defined in British
dictionaries as 'grounds of a school or college'). The number of lexical units
denoting some realia having no counterparts in the other English-speaking
countries is considerable in each variant. To these we may refer, for example,
lexical units pertaining to such spheres of life as flora and fauna (e.g. AuE
kangaroo, kaola, dingo, gum-tree), names of schools of learning (e.g. junior
high school and senior high school in AE or composite high school in CnE), names
of things of everyday life, often connected with peculiar national conditions,
traditions and customs (e.g. AuE boomerang, AE drug-store, CnE float-house).
But it is not the lexical units of this kind that can be considered
distinguishing features of this or that variant. As the lexical units are the
only means of expressing the notions in question in the English language some
of them have become common property of the entire English-speaking community
(as, e.g., drug-store, lightning rod, super-market, baby-sitter that extended
from AE, or the hockey terms that originated in Canada (body-check, red-line,
puck-carrier, etc.); others have even become international (as the former
Americanisms motel, lynch, abolitionist, radio, cybernetics, telephone,
anesthesia, or the former Australianisms dingo, kangaroo and cockatoo).

The numerous locally-marked slangisms, professionalisms and dialectisms
cannot be considered distinguishing features either, since they do not belong
to the literary language.

Less obvious, yet not less important, are the regional differences of
another kind, the so-called derivational variants of words, having the same
root and identical in lexical meaning though differing in derivational affixes
(e.g. BE acclimateЧAE acclimatize, BE aluminiumЧAE aluminum).

Sometimes the derivational variation embraces several words of the same
word-cluster. Compare, for example, the derivatives of race (division of
mankind) in British and American English:

BE racial/racialist a, racialist n, racialism n

AE racist a, racist n, racialism/racism n

When speaking about the territorial lexical divergences it is not
sufficient to bring into comparison separate words, it is necessary to compare
lexico-semantic groups of words or synonymic sets, to study the relations
within these groups and sets, because on the one hand a different number of
members in a lexico-semantic group is connected with a different semantic
structure of its members, on the other hand even insignificant modifications in
the semantic structure of a word bring about tangible difference in the
structure of the lexico-semantic group to which the word belongs.

For example, the British and Australian variants have different sets of
words denoting inland areas: only inland is common to both, besides BE has
interior, remote, etc., AuE has bush, outback, backblocks, back of beyond, back
of Bourke and many others.

Accordingly, the semantic structure of the word bush and its position in
the two variants are altogether different: in BE it has one central meaning
('shrub') and several derived ones, some of which are now obsolete, in AuE it
has two semantic centres ('wood' and 'inland areas') that embrace five main and
four derived meanings.

Lexical peculiarities in different parts of the English-speaking world
are not only those in vocabulary, to be disposed of in an alphabetical list,
they also concern the very fashion of using words. For instance, the
grammatical valency of the verb to push is much narrower in AuE, than in BE and
AE (e.g. in this variant it is not used in the patterns VVen, NVen,
NVing, NprpVing. Some patterns of the verb are typical
only of one variant (e.g. NVen and NprpVingЧof BE, NV and
NVing Ч AE). There are also some features of dissimilarity in the
word's lexical valency, e.g. a specifically British peculiarity observed in
newspaper style is the ability of the verb to be used in combination with nouns
denoting price or quality (to push up prices, rents, etc.).

As to word-formation in different variants, the word-building means
employed are the same and most of them are equally productive. The difference
lies only in the varying degree of productivity of some of them in this or that
variant. As compared with the British variant, for example, in the American
variant the affixes -ette, -ее, super-, as in kitchenette, draftee, super-market,
are used more extensively; the same is true of conversion and blending (as in
walk-outЧ'workers' strike' from (to) walk out; (to) majorЧ'specialize in a
subject or field of study' from the adjective major; motel from motor + hotel,
etc.). In the Australian variant the suffixes-ie/-y and-ее, as well as
abbreviations are more productive than in BE.

Thus, the lexical distinctions between different variants of English are
intricate and varied, but they do not make a system. For the most part they are
partial divergences in the semantic structure and usage of some words.

Some Points of History of the Territorial Variants and
Lexical interchange between them

The lexical divergences between different variants of English have been
brought about several historical processes.

As we have known the English language was brought to the American
continent at the beginning of the 17th century and to Australia at the end of
the 18th century as a result of the expansion of British colonialism. It is
inevitable that on each territory in the new conditions the subsequent
development of the language should diverge somewhat from that of British
English.

In the first place names for new animals, birds, fishes, plants, trees,
etc. were formed of familiar English elements according to familiar English
patterns. Such are mockingbird, bullfrog, catfish, peanut, sweet potato,
popcorn that were coined in AE or dogger - 'professional hunter of dingoes',
BushmanЧ'Australian soldier in Boer WarЧformed in AuE.

New words were also borrowed to express new concepts from the languages
with which English came into contact on the new territories. Thus in the
American variant there appeared Indian hickory, moose, racoon, Spanish canyon,
mustang, ranch, sombrero, etc.

At the same time quite a number of words lost in BE have survived on the
other continents and conversely, certain features of earlier BE that have been
retained in England were lost in the new varieties of the language, changed
their meaning or acquired a new additional one.

For example, Chaucer used to guess in the meaning of to think, so do the
present day Americans; the English however abandoned it centuries ago and when
they happen to hear it today they are conscious that it is an Americanism. The
same is true of the words to loan for to lend, fall for autumn, homely for
ugly, crude, etc.

The word barn designated in Britain a building for storing grain (the
word was a compound in Old English consisting of bereЧ'barley' and
aernЧ'house'); in AE it came also to mean a place for housing stock,
particularly cattle. Similarly, corn was applied in America to an altogether
different cereal (maize) and lost its former general meaning 'grain'. The word
station acquired the meaning of 'a sheep or cattle ranch', the word bushЧthe
meaning of 'woodТ and shrub (AuE scrub)Ч .'any vegetation but wood' in AuE.
Modern times are characterized by considerable levelling of the lexical
distinctions between the variants due to the growth of cultural and economic
ties between nations and development of modern means of communication.

For example, a large number of Americanisms have gained currency in BE,
some becoming so thoroughly naturalized that the dictionaries in England no
longer mark them as aliens (e.g. reliable, lengthy, talented, belittle). Others
have a limited sphere of application (e.g. fanЧ colloq. 'a person enthusiastic
about a specific sport, pastime, or performer', to iron outЧ'smooth out,
eliminate'). The influx of American films, comics and periodicals resulted in
the infiltration of American slang, e.g. gimmickЧ'deceptive or secret device',
to rootЧ'support or encourage a contestant or team, as by applauding or
cheering', etc.

Certain uses of familiar words, which some 50 years ago were peculiar to
the US, are now either completely naturalized in Britain or evidently on the
way to naturalization. Numerous examples will be found by noting the words and
meanings indicated as American in dictionaries at the beginning of the century
and in present days.

At the same time a number of Briticisms have passed into the language of
the USA, e.g. smog which is a blend of smoke and fog, to briefЧ 'to give
instructions'. This fact the advocates of the American language theory
deliberately ignore. Sometimes the Briticisms adopted in America compete with
the corresponding American expressions, the result being the differentiation in
meaning or spheres of application, for example, unlike the American store, the
word shop, taken over from across the ocean at the beginning of the 20th
century is applied only to small specialized establishments (e.g. gift shop,
hat shop, candy shop), or specialized departments of a department store. British
luggage used alongside American baggage in America differs from its rival in
collocability (luggage compartment, luggage rack, but baggage car, baggage
check, baggage room). In the pair autumnЧfall the difference in AE is of
another nature: the former is bookish, while the latter colloquial.

Local Variants in the British Isles and in the USA

Local Dialects in the British lsles

In the British Isles there exist many speech varieties confined to
particular areas. These local dialects traceable to Old English dialects may be
classified into six distinct divisions: 1) Lowland (Scottish p£ Scotch,
North of the river Tweed), 2) Northern (between tne rivers Tweed and Humber),
3) Western, 4) Midland and 5) Eastern (between the river Humber and the
Thames), 6) Southern (South of tne Thames). Their sphere of application is
confined to the oral speech of the rural population in a locality and only the
Scottish dialect can be said to have a literature of its own with Robert Burns
as its greatest representative.

OffspringТs of the English national literary language, the British local
dialects are marked off from the former and from each other by some phonetic,
grammatical and lexical peculiarities.

Careful consideration of the national and the dialect vocabularies
discloses that the most marked difference between them lies in the limited
character of the dialect vocabularies. The literary language contains many
words not to be found in dialects, among them technical and scientific terms.

1. Local lexical peculiarities, as yet the least studied, are most noticeable
in specifically dialectal words pertaining to local customs, social life and
natural conditions: lairdЧ'landed proprietor in Scotland', burghЧ'Scottish
chartered town', kirkЧ'church1, lochЧ'Scottish lake or landlocked arm of the
sea', etc. There are many names of objects and processes connected with
farming, such as the names of agricultural processes, tools, domestic animals
and the like, e.g. gallowayЧ'horse of small strong breed from Galloway,
Scotland', kyloeЧ'one of small breed of long-horned Scotch cattle',
sheltyЧ'Shetland pony'. There is also a considerable number of emotionally
coloured dialectal words, e.g. Іcot. bonnyЧ'beautiful, healthy-looking',
brawЧ'fine, excellent', daffyЧ'crazy, silly', cuddyЧ'fool, ass', loonЧ'clumsy,
stupid person'.

In addition, words may have different meanings in the national language
and in the local dialects, e.g. in the Scottish dialect the word to call is
used in the meaning of 'to drive', to setЧ'to suit', shortЧ'rude',
sillyЧ'weak', etc.

Dialectal lexical differences also embrace word-building patterns. For
instance, some Irish words contain the dimmut≥ve suffixes -an -een, -can, as in
bohaunЧ'cabin' (from Irish bothЧ'cabin'); bohereenЧ 'narrow road' (from Irish
botharЧ'road'); mearacaunЧ'thimble' (from Irish mearЧ'finger'); etc. Some of
these suffixes may even be added to English bases, as in girleen, dogeen,
squireen (squirrel), etc. Some specifically dialectal derivatives are formed
from standard English stems with the help of standard English affixes, e.g. Scot,
flesherЧ'butcher', Sudden tyЧ'suddennessТ.

A great number of words specifically dialectal appeared as a result of
intense borrowing from other languages, others are words that have disappeared
from the national literary language or become archaic, poetical, such as
gangЧ'go', OE sangan; bairnЧ.'child', OE beam, etc. Thus, the lexical
differences between the English national language and its dialects are due to
the difference in the spheres of application, different tempos of development,
different contacts with other peoples, and deliberate elaboration of literary
norms.

The Relationship Between the English National Language
and British Local Dialects

The local dialects in Britain are sharply declining in importance at the
present time; they are being obliterated by the literary language. This process
is two-fold. On the one hand, lexical units of the literary language enter
local dialects, ousting some of their words and expressions. On the other hand,
dialectal words penetrate into the national literary language. Many frequent
words of common use are dialectal in origin, such as girl, one, raid, glamour,
etc. Some words from dialects are used as technical terms or professionalisms
in the literary language, e.g. the Scotch cuddyЧ'ass' is used in the meaning of
jack-screw and lugЧ'ear' in the meaning of handle.

Dialect peculiarities (phonetic, grammatical, but mainly lexical) modify
in varying degrees the language spoken in different parts of Britain. These
speech-forms are called regional variants of the national language and they are
gradually replacing the old local dialects. It should be noted that the word
dialect is used in two meanings nowadays: to denote the old dialects which are
now dying away, and to denote the regional variants, i.e. a literary standard
with some features from local dialects.

The most marked difference between dialects and regional variants in the
field of phonetics lies in the fact that dialects possess phonemic
distinctions, while regional variants are characterized by phonetic
distinctions. In matters of vocabulary and grammar the difference is in the
greater number and greater diversity of local peculiarities in the dialects as
compared with the regional variants.

lexical
dialect english language

Local Dialects
in the USA

The English language in the United States is characterized by relative uniformity
throughout the country. One can travel three thousand miles without
encountering any but the slightest dialect differences. Nevertheless, regional
variations in speech undoubtedly exist and they have been observed and recorded
by a number of investigators.

The following three major belts of dialects have so far been identified,
each with its own characteristic features: Northenr Midland and Southern,
Midland being in turn divided into North Midland and South Midland.

The differences in pronunciation between American dialects are most
apparent, but they seldom interfere with understanding. Distinctions in grammar
are scarce. The differences in vocabulary are rather numerous, but they are
easy to pick up. Cf., e.g., Eastern New England sour-milk cheese. Inland
Northern Dutch cheese, New York City pot cheese for Standard American cottage
cheese (творог).

The American linguist "O. F. Emerson maintains that American English
had not had time to break up into widely diverse dialects and he believes that
in the course of time the American dialects might finally become nearly as
distinct as the dialects in Britain. He is certainly greatly mistaken. In
modern times dialect divergence cannot increase. On the contrary, in the United
States, as elsewhere, the national language is tending to wipe out the dialect
distinctions and to become still more uniform.

Comparison of the dialect differences in the' British Isles and in the
USA reveals that not only are they less numerous and far less marked in the
USA, but that the very nature of the local distinctions is different. What is
usually known as American dialects is closer in nature to regional variants of
the literary language. The problem of discriminating between literary and
dialect speech patterns in the USA is much more complicated than in Britain.
Many American linguists point out that American English differs from British
English in having no one locality whose speech patterns have come to be
recognized as the model for the rest of the country.

Conclusions

1. English is the national language of England proper, the USA, Australia
and some provinces of Canada. It was also at different times imposed on the
inhabitants of the former and present British colonies and protectorates as
well as other Britain- and US-dominated territories, where the population has
always stuck to its own mother tongue.

2. British English, American English and Australian English are variants
of the same language, because they serve all spheres of verbal communication.
Their structural peculiarities, especially morphology, syntax and
word-formation, as well as their word-stock and phonetic system are essentially
the same. American and Australian standards are slight modifications of the
norms accepted in the British Isles. The status of Canadian English has not yet
been established.

3. The main lexical differences between the variants are caused by the
lack of equivalent lexical units in one of them, divergences in the semantic
structures of polysemantic words and peculiarities of usage of some words on
different territories.

4. The so-called local dialects in the British Isles and in the USA .are
used only by the rural population and only for the purposes of oral communication.
In both variants local distinctions are more marked in pronunciation, less
conspicuous in vocabulary and insignificant in grammar.

5. The British local dialects can be traced back to Old English dialects.
Numerous and distinct, they are characterized by phonemic and structural
peculiarities. The local dialects are being gradually replaced by regional
variants of the literary language, i. e. by a literary standard with a
proportion of local dialect features.

6. Local variations in the USA are relatively small. What is called by
tradition American dialects is closer in nature to regional variants of the
national literary language.